“If ancestor stealing was a crime, you would be #1 on the Genealogical Bureau of Investigation’s Most Wanted List!

–Twila Barnes

For confusion’s sake, Eric Fehrnstrom and the Boston Herald chose well. When it comes to Cherokees, heritage issues are as arcane as they are contentious. Active, partisan disputes in the Cherokee Nation, many of which revolve around genealogy, are intense, and it is not surprising that the right-wing has found two Cherokee gadflies, Twila Barnes and David Cornsilk, to legitimize their smear of the Elizabeth Warren. There is no indication that they support a particular party, but there is ample evidence to show each has a well-defined agenda.

For all American Indians, tribal membership can often be a matter of debate. In some tribes, membership is determined by blood quantum, the degree of ancestry of an individual. Some tribes, for example, require members to have a minimum of one great-grandparent for membership. For the Cherokee Nation, however, the only ancestors that count are those that can be traced to the Dawes Rolls, a sort of census used to allot land to some Indians in place of reservations. Theoretically, a person could be have two Cherokee parents, but if she is unable to trace their ancestry back to the Dawes Rolls, they don’t qualify as Cherokee.

One ongoing Cherokee controversy involving tribal citizenship concerns the Cherokee Freedmen–descendants of African American slaves and their Cherokee masters. After the Civil War, the Cherokee Freedmen were made citizens of the Cherokee Nation in accordance with a treaty made with the United States government; however, in the 1980s, the Cherokee Nation itself amended its citizenship rules and required direct descent from an ancestor listed in the “Cherokee By Blood” section of the Dawes Rolls.

Though there are no dead bodies laying around.., there are still attempts at genocide against the Cherokees going on today. It is what I call paper genocide. Instead of killing us outright, they are now trying to erase our Indian ancestors from history and replace them with their white ancestors. By doing so, not only do they get rid of that particular Indian, they also get rid of all of his descendants and replace those descendants with those of the white man.

They were set up in the parking lot, complete with the “Obama with Hitler mustache” pictures. I called the corporate HQ and suggested they call the store and ask them to move along – not the brand I’d want my business associated with! Sean Bielat’s supporters were outside Milford’s last town meeting a couple of weeks ago, along with some LaRouchies – wisely, Bielat’s guys were keeping their distance from them!

All delegates crossing their picket line should sing the Hallelujah Chorus at them…

The only BMGer ever to have been publicly mentioned by The Great And Powerful Howard Carr, to my knowledge, is Ernie Boch III during l’affaire Boch. I had forgotten how good that particular episode was.

Like all tools of the Republican Party, he’s concerned with narrative.

Facts don’t fit into his narrative, but any singular person(s) who fit it will suddenly be the uber credible sources who prove whatever he wants to say… instead of outliers or people with axes to grind.

When the Cherokee people, as an entity, vote Elizabeth Warren off the island… then maybe it will deserve some credence. But even then, it won’t prove anything other than the fact that Elizabeth Warren’s grandmother was wrong about her family’s history.

And, chances are, no one will be able to prove – beyond a shadow of a doubt – whether or not that will ever be the case, because the Cherokees as a people were brutalized and terrorized and little documentation remains from those days.

So, Rob, if you’re reading this… stop being a hack, or admit the fact that Scott Brown will *never* be able to win on the issues average families are most concerned with.

Elizabeth Warren never touted she was card carrying member of the Cherokee Tribe, in fact, quite the opposite. She mentions these roots as heritage, a true statement. Nowhere has she stated she lived her life in anything resembling a tribal context. She is just proud that the United States can at times people assimilate to demonstrate our diversity while being a unified citizenry. Of course still a work in progress but it seems a laudable goal for this country.